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O. H. JADWIN. Gable Traction for Street Cars, No. 236,334. Paten'ted'l an. 4,1331.

WITNESSES: mvmroa:

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NPETERS, PHOTO-LITHDGRAPHER. WASNINGYON- D. 04

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0. H. J'ADWIN. Gable Traction for Streetcars.

No. 236,334.T V Patented Jan, 4,1881.

WITNESSES: INVBNTORi ATTORNEYSn mPETERs, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WAsHmGmN, n. c.

UNTTED STATES PATENT Garrett...

ORLANDO H. JADWIN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

CABLE-TRACTION FOR STREET-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 236,334, dated January 4, 1881.

Application filed November 16, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ORLANDO H. JADWIN, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oable- Traction for Street- Gars and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side view of the clutch with the cable passing through it. Fig. 2 is an end view of the clutch passing between holding and guiding pulleys for the cable. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are respectivelya side, an end, and a plan view of a rocking frame for holding the cable down into the angles of the streets in such a manner as to allow the clutch to pass readily; and Fig. 6 is a view on a reduced scale, showin g the relation of this frame to the cable and the changing grade of the street.

My invention relates to certain improvements in the traction of cars or boats by means of an endless traveling wire-rope cable running case may be.

My improvements consist, first, in the peculiar construction and arrangement of a clutch which is in the nature of an attachment to the car, and serves, at the will of the conductor, to connect the car to the traveling cable; and the prominent feature of this part of my invention consists in a clutch having two bearingsurfaces on opposite sides of the cable, made adjustable toward each other, and one or both of which is made to rock in the longitudinal plane of the cable, the primary object being to avoid accidental starting of the car and to render the action of clamping the cable more gradual and uniform, so that there shall be less of the spasmodic or jerking action due to the convolutions of the wire strands and the kinks and slight inequalities in the cable.

My invention also consistsin the peculiar construction and arrangement of a rocking frame with rollers for guiding and holding the cable into such angles in the street where, from its tension, it would have a tendency to rise out and lift the car from the track, thesaid rocking 50 frame being so constructed with reference to -in a channel in the ground or elevated, as the (No model.)

the clutch as to secure this result without interference with the passage of the clutch, as hereinafter more fully described.

In the drawings, Arepresentsasection of the traveling wire cable, and B B are the upper and lower bearing-surfaces of the clutch, which rest upon opposite sides of the cable, and are adjustable toward each other to seize the cable and cause the car to be dragged along with it, or which may be separated to allow the car to stop and the cable to travel freely through the clutch. As shown, the lower bearing-surface, B, is made in the nature of a rigid elongated foot, hollowed out inside to receive the cable, while the upper bearing-surface is made in the'nature of a rocking frame, B, having a fulcrum at a, and provided with two, four, or more rollers, I), which are adapted to rest upon the top of the cable.

I do not confine myself to making the upper bearing to carry the rollers and rock, in combination with a rigid lower bearing-surface, as I may make either the upper or lower bearingsurface to rock, or both of them to rock, and.

I may arrange rollers upon one or both of them,accord ing to circumstances, the essential feature of this part of my invention being that at least one of the bearing-surfaces for p the cable shall rock longitudinally in the plane of the cable. The good results attained by this are as follows:

In the necessary structure of a wire cable the strands of the latter make the track of the pulleys slightly waved or undulating, and kinks and slight irregularities will at times get into the cable, and these conditions, when two direct-acting clamps are used, sometimes cause the car to start off unawares' when stopped to receive passengers, and also, in starting, the cable jerks spasmodically between '90 these directacting clamps. I mean by directacting clamps any devices in which the bearing-surfaces approach the cable with an invariable adjustment, either parallel thereto or substantially so.

In my device any irregularity in the cable causes the clutch to act one end at a time- '5. 0., if a slight enlargement enters one end of the clutch and the space between the bearing-surfaces atthis end is not large enough to I00 let it pass, it would bind with the clutch, if they were direct-acting, and it would start the car prematurely, although it might be stopped for receiving or delivering passengers. With my rocking arrangement the clutch becomes an accommodating clutch, and any enlargement on the cable causes the bearing-surface to rock, as shown in dotted lines, and open the space between the bearing-surfaces at the entering end, and as it leaves the exit end it rocks the frame in the other direction, and slightly opens the space between the bearingsurfaces at the exit end. When the car is stopped, therefore, there is little or no danger of its starting off unawares from irregularities in the cable. This same rocking principle also secures an even and compensating bear-in g on opposite sides of the fulcrum, which allows the cable to be gradually pinched when the car is to be started, which obviates any spasmodic or jerking action.

I am aware that the two parts of the bearing-surfaces of a clutch have been hinged so as to move laterally to the cable in pinching it; but this does not rock in the plane of the cable, and hence does not give the compensating action that mine does.

In practicel prefer the form shown,in which the lower bearing surface is an elongated rigid foot having a blunt rear end to prevent strands of wire from catching in the same, and in which the upper bearing-surface is a rocking frame made with a sharp prow and housing the friction-wheels. For giving the necessary adjustment to the parts, the foot has a slotted shank, 0, terminating in a top plate, d, and a grooved collar, f, while a stem, 0, is attached to the rocking frame by being connected with its fulcrum, and extends up in the slot of the shank 0 through the top plate and grooved collar, and is screw-threaded at its upper end.

O is a screw-nut, which atits upper end fits the screw-threaded end of the stem 0, and at its lower end has two set-screws, g, whose inner ends enter the groove of the collarfand cause the nut to swivel thereabout, while its female thread causes the stem 0 to be raised or lowered, to raise or lower the rocking frame and bind or release the cable.

Between the plate d and the nut G is arranged the loosely connected and swinging plate D, which forms the draft-connection for the car, which loose swiveling of the connection directly above the clamp, and also at the car coupling, permits the easy turning of curves without binding or wedging, and conforms to any undulations in the cable.

I will now describe the other feature of my invention, which 1 have constructed with special reference to the clutch, with a view to enablin g the latter to pass certain angles in the cable due to changesin the grade of the street.

In arranging the cable in the channel in the street where the grade of the street changes from a less to a greater incline, or vice versa,

it is found that the tension of the cable has a tendency to pull the cable out of the channel at this angle and lift the car off the track, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6. To remedy this, as well as to hold the cable at any inner bend of the same, I have constructed a rocking frame on the same general principle as that described and claimed in my reissued Patent No. 8,619; but I employ two parallel frame-bars, D D, having in their middle trunnion-bearin gs h-h and a down wardly-bent yoke, E, for connecting said bars, while at each end of these bars I arrange diagonally-set pulleys F, fixed in planes of aboutforty-five degrees to sixty degrees to the horizontal, andprovided with long bearings,the lower edges ofwhich pulleys rest upon thetop edges of the eable,leavin g, however, between their adjacent lower edges room enough to receive the wheels or rollers I) of the clutch. Now, it will be seen that these pulleys rest upon the top of the cable, or upon the inner angle of the same, and hold it to its place, and while this result is accomplished, it in no wise affects the passage of the clutch, because, being constructed on the rocking, compensating, or accommodating principle described in my reissued patent referred to, the clutch, in passing under this device, lifts alternately one end of the frame at a time, which causes the other end to advance to a firmer hold upon the cable.

Reverting to the clutch again, I would state that when applied to rapidly-running cables, traveling, say, twenty-four miles an hour, I may find it desirable to arrange at the back of one of the bearing-surfaces of my clutch a spring, which will make the seizure of the cable still more gradual in starting, and I reserve in this case the right to make such addition to my clutch.

With respect to the horizontally-swinging traction-plate D, I would state that I do not claim this broadly in this application, as a horizontally-swinging draft-bar is shown in my prior patent, No. 223,592. I therefore only claim in this case the said plate D when connected to and swiveling about the vertical axis of the clutch asa center, wherebya much greater freedom of movement and sensitiveness of lateral adjustment is obtained, and

cramping and binding in turning curves are obviated.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. A clutch for a traveling cable, having its bearing or clamping surfaces made adjustable toward each other, and having one or both of said clamping-surfaces arranged to rock in the plane of the cable, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. A clutch for a traveling cable, consisting of a rigid foot and an adjustable frame carrying rollers, and arranged to rock in the plane of the cable, as described.

3. The rigid foot having slotted shank 0, top plate, d, and grooved collar f, in combina- 6. The combination. with the clutch composed of the elongated sections B B, con- 15 structed and arranged substantially as de- I scribed, of the rocking frame composed of bars D D, yoke E, and the two pairs of diagonally-set pulleys F, as and for the purpose described.

ORLANDO H. JADWIN.

Witnesses (J. SEDGWIOK, I. W. MARTYN. 

